Mobile TV War at NAB

Posted by
Sam Churchill
on
April 16th, 2007

Diana Christensen: The time has come to re-evaluate our relationship, Max. I don’t like the way this script of ours has turned out. It’s turning into a seedy little drama.Max Schumacher: You’re going to cancel the show?
— Network

No timeframe was announced for availability of either ATSC-M/H or A-VSB.

Del Parks, VP of operations and engineering for Sinclair Broadcast Group, has seen A-VSB and MPH in action and says both prove that “the reception of 8-VSB signals in mobile mode is not only possible but practical.”

The broadcast-only Coalition includes Belo, Fox Stations, Gannett Broadcasting, Gray Television, ION Media Networks, the NBC & Telemundo Television Stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Broadcasting Company. They collectively represent over 280 television stations in the U.S., covering 95 million households, including 49 of the top 50 markets nationwide.

So far, no cellphones have been announced that support the new technologies.

Most European industry players favor the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld) standard, but competing technologies, including DMB and MediaFlo, have gained ground over recent months due to slow rollout of DVB-H networks.

DVB-T (Europe’s Terrestrial DTV). The DVB Project is the demonstrating a scheme that allows a DVB-T multiplex to contain one or more DVB-H services alongside a high-definition DVB-T service in the same 6 MHz channel. The co-existence of a 13.8 Mbps high-definition television signal and a 5.5 Mbps DVB-H signal within a 19.3 Mbps stream. It uses Hierarchical Modulation, embedded as a High Priority service within a Low Priority DVB-T stream.